Review: Motherless Brooklyn

He'd do it for me.

Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) is a private eye whose mentor, Frank (Bruce Willis) is gunned down before his eyes while working a case. He attempts to solve Frank's murder and seeks out the woman Frank was following, Laura. (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) He doesn't have all the pieces, but he does have a brilliant mind...that occasionally causes outbursts as he suffers from Tourette's Syndrome.

I save that for last because Norton mostly uses Tourette's as comedy relief aside from a very sweet scene in a night club (with the lovely Michael Kenneth Williams on the trumpet) and a few interrogations.Perhaps the book this film is based on plays it differently.

I'm finding myself at a bit of a crossroads with this movie too. (and like The Lighthouse, Willem DaFoe makes an appearance here too) I left it thinking I probably would've enjoyed the book more as I love mysteries. One of the reasons is because you can sit with a few chapters before starting the next. With this film and its 2 1/2 hour run time, it throws so much information at you that I found myself getting confused at times. When the film started to drag, I started to over think what I had just saw. Then the pay off doesn't feel very satisfactory for all the hoops we just watched Lionel jump through. 

But the story IS interesting. I just wish they had trimmed it up a bit. I felt like too many things went nowhere. The actors did a good job. I'm always here for Gugu who was the standout. Norton carries the film well and he's a fine director. There's some truly beautiful shots here. 

After reading some pretty terrible reviews of this, I did end up liking it more than I was expecting to, so that was a plus, but it still had plenty of problems.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B-

Memorable Quote: "You don't know what you're getting into." - Paul (Willem DaFoe)

Indie Gems: Them That Follow

Pray on it

Somewhere secluded in Appalachia, Mara (Alice Englert) is secretly pregnant out of wedlock and cannot tell anyone. Her father, Lemuel (Walton Goggins) is a pastor of their small church, where they hold venomous snakes and speak in tongues. When Sister Hope (Olivia Colman) finds out, she and her lover, Augie (Thomas Mann) are forced to confront their sins and go through a dangerous tradition at their church.

I've been waiting to see this film since it premiered at Sundance earlier this year. It had plenty of positive reviews then promptly dropped off the face of the Earth until now. In a way, I get it. Movies dealing with religion, mainly one that paints it in a very bad light can be fairly niche. But it still disappointed me that this film wasn't talked about more considering the setting alone gives Ozark and Winter's Bone vibes, and those are still fairly popular. 

I'm happy to say it was worth the wait. It's a deliberately paced film that will have you wishing you could reach through your TV and slap several characters at times. The actors are wonderful. Colman couldn't be less glamorous and different from when I saw her last in The Favourite. Goggins is such a reliable actor, especially when he's playing a creep. He's very believable as a religious nut. Mann and Kaitlyn Deaver, who plays Mara's friend Dilly are both welcome additions in their small parts. Englert carries the movie well. I feel like it has been ages since I've seen her last, but I loved how she played Mara. She didn't come off as the typical person questioning her faith. She truly wants to believe, but the way her community does things is backwards and wrong and she doesn't need that to have faith.

Aside from the editing being really choppy, the one thing I wish this film had was a bit more context. It could've used another 15 minutes or so on its run time to flesh out the characters further. I wish we could've seen more of Augie and Mara together. I also wish we learned more about Dilly, who seems to almost be a bit of a pariah in the community. We're told her mother left her there, but she's so easily dismissed by everyone else except Mara that I felt like there had to be more story there.

Grade: B

Watched on: Netflix DVD

Memorable Quote: "We respect the serpent but do not cower to it." - Lemuel (Walton Goggins)

Thursday Movie Picks: Scientists

This week's theme from Wandering Through Yourselves is about those smart individuals in the world of science. Allow me to SuBvErT yOuR eXpEcTaTiOnS here and bring you terrible movies with bad scientists instead. 

1) Evolution

Unlike the other films on this list, I like this but it's not great. In this film, scientists are tasked with handling alien organisms that are starting to evolve. Hilarity ensues. I saw this in theaters with my dad when it first came out and I really liked it then, but when I watched it again as an adult I was faced with the reality that it wasn't as funny as my 13 year old self remembered. 

2) Alien: Covenant

This group of scientists are not dumb enough to divert from their mission to check out some random planet that appeared out of nowhere, right? Nope. Good thing they got some Michael Fassbender erotica on the way. 

3) Alone in the Dark 

You know Tara Reid is a scientist because she's got glasses on! All smart people have glasses. Unlike all the other Uwe Bowl garbage fires I've watched, this one doesn't even have memorable garbage in it. Unless you count that massive wall of text at the beginning that attempts to explain the film because what follows is a disaster.

Review: The Lighthouse

Are you going mad?

Winslow (Robert Pattinson) takes a job as a lighthouse keeper with veteran Thomas (Willem DaFoe) somewhere off the coast of New England in the 1890's. He eventually begins to question his sanity.

I'm perplexed with this film. On one hand, I'm glad something so very art house is getting a wide(ish) release here in the States, but the other part of me can't say I actually enjoyed watching all of this. 

There is a lot to like about this, don't get me wrong. The way its shot makes it seem like it could've came from the 1930's. I normally dislike black and white in current films but the smaller aspect ratio and the grim tones 100% contribute positively to the narrative. This couldn't be done in color. It would've looked goofy. After all, this is a film that begins with a fart joke of all things. We need that extra bleakness on top of it.

Acting wise, Pattinson and DaFoe are great, they nail all the emotional beats but Pattinson's accent gets away from him. To be fair, I think it's an intentional thing based on his character's back story but he loses it when he's shouting. This is unfortunate because a lot of this film is them shouting monologues at each other. 

This brings me to the story. I don't think there was enough here to fill its nearly 2 hour run time. If you thought director Robert Eggers' previous film, The Witch had a pacing issues, you will likely think one does too. The tone and the hardships this job entails are set almost immediately. We didn't have to dwell on it so much to get the big picture. I suppose that could also be intentional. Perhaps he wanted the audience to go crazy along with Winslow.

By the time you're actually reading this, I'll have edited this review several times. I'm so torn on what to grade it. This is an incredible bit of filmmaking and I admire a lot of what it did. (A+ trolling seagull) but I can't see myself wanting to revisit this.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: C+. (Aka the exact middle ground of my grading system)

Memorable Quote: "Alright, have it your way. I like your cooking."

Review: Harriet

A walk to freedom.

Minty (Cynthia Erivo) is a woman who escapes slavery and becomes the hero we know her as today: Harriet Tubman. We follow her as she works with William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.) and the Underground Railroad to continue to free slaves and evade her former master - Gideon (Joe Alwyn) who is hellbent on thwarting her plans. 

The world deserves a Harriet Tubman biopic and I'm glad director Kasi Lemmons got to bring us one. They play it very safe, but it's here and that's what matters most. Calling Harriet and what she accomplished extraordinary isn't enough. The film condenses it and makes good use of it's 2 hour run time. It never drags and even though you know the outcome of her story, there are plenty of tense moments throughout.

Cynthia Erivo (who was robbed of an Oscar nomination for Bad Times at the El Royale last year) is a fantastic Harriet. She nails every scene. We see her at her most vulnerable to her most stoic. She also puts her lovely singing voice to good use here as well. The cast supporting her are wonderful as well. I really enjoyed Odom Jr and I'm always happy to see Clarke Peters and Janelle Monae.

The biggest fault in my opinion are how they chose to handle Harriet's "spells" We know she had seizures in real life but here are re-worked into full scale premonitions. They show her the future and help her evade capture several times. She even prays for someone to die, and they do in the next scene. While I don't think Harriet's faith in the lord should be discarded completely, they made it phony with how heavy handed they played it.

Even if it's safe or formulaic, Harriet is still far better than many of the other biopics out there getting similar criticisms. I don't think that should stop you from seeing it.

Now they just need to put her on our U.S currency like they promised.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "You will call me Harriet, that's my free name." - Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo)

DVD Review: Light of my Life

Guess who's the worst?

In a post apocalyptic world where a mysterious virus has killed off most of the female population, a father (Casey Affleck) dresses his young daughter, Rag (Anna Pniowsky) up as a boy to protect her.

We all do dumb things sometimes. In this case, it was me throwing this film into my Netflix queue and bumping it straight to the top because I mistook it for Blinded By The Light. How did I make such an error? Sleep deprivation or wine probably but my stupidity was rewarded by watching a film starring, written and directed by Casey Affleck in which a dad has to disguise is daughter because if these neanderthals found out she was a girl, well you know what would happen. 

I know I didn't have to watch it, I could've just put it back in the envelope and sent it on its merry way but I decided to give it a chance because I'm a fair person. I didn't like this. To be fair, it lifts heavily from The Road, which was a film I also disliked. Furthermore, I'm not in the mood to watch movies about shitty men thinking they own women. I cannot begin to explain how over this I am. To the films' credit, they don't show anything like that but it's very, very heavily implied. 

It's not wall to wall terrible. Affleck and Pniowsky are good, and I appreciated that Dad (that's what he's called) never once talked down to his daughter. He's very straightforward with her for the most part, apologizes when he's short with her, and teaches her important lessons, but that brings me to one of the film's major flaws: Affleck drags every scene out far longer than it needs to be. It kicks off with a never ending bedtime story, Dad goes over drills with Rag over and over. It's just too much for a film that was already testing my patience.

Recommended: No

Grade: D

Memorable Quote: "It's just a jacket." - Rag (Anna Pniowsky)

What I Watched on TV In October

Another month, another update on what I've been watching on the small screen. Here's what's been keeping me busy in October. 

Barry - I finished Barry at the beginning of the month. I talked about it more in my September post when I started it, but lets just say I'll definitely be watching season 3.

Succession - This is a show I've been meaning to start for ages. I think the pilot is actually the weakest episode, it gets so much better after that. I'm looking forward to watching this weekly when it comes back. It's not the most bingable show, so I think I'll appreciate it more spaced out. The ending to the second season was amazing.

Mr. Robot - I was so pumped for this to come back then they killed my favorite character in the first 5 minutes of the premiere. That was not a great start. I also forgot how annoying it is to watch something on cable. Since Better Call Saul has been off, none of my other shows I've been watching live are on cable. I keep getting severe weather notifications during the show so I miss big parts. I think that, plus the long wait between last season is contributing to me getting flat out confused at times so far. 

Watchmen - While we're only two episodes in, I'm really liking the direction they've taken so far with this show. There's nice comic easter eggs in there, but you're not required to have a lot of knowledge of it. Regina King is wonderful. The show is highly uncomfortable at times but the story is so interesting.